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Press TV has conducted an interview with journalist and analyst Navid Ahmed to discuss the current political situation in Pakistan.

Press TV: Mr. Ahmed, your take on all of this. Why are we seeing this happen now? The elections were more than a year ago. So, in your perspective what exactly are the protesters trying to accomplish and why now?

Ahmed: Well, there is a history to it. Imran Khan was addressing a speech, was going or a speech in Lahore on May 7, 2013 and he fell from the crane and was seriously injured, and then on the 9th he addressed from a hospital bed and on 11th there were elections. The electoral process continued probably until the election day, while he was in the hospital. There were serious issues with regard to electoral roles. There was a military-led correction of electoral rules in entire Karachi, an exercise that should have been conducted in Pakistan.

And then the entire process of electioneering did not involve any authority by any law-enforcing agency to check and intervene in case of any rigging. On the face of it, Pakistan’s elections were the most sophisticated in its history, but when it comes to the results and the execution of actual exercise, we see that a lot has been left to be desired. For example, it has been 15 months and the election results in detail up to the polling station have not been published have not been declared online and are not accessible to the common person like me, who has been a journalist for over two decades.

So the situation in this backdrop is clearly murky and allegations that Imran Khan has been leveling particularly with regards to the execution of election day exercises are not new. He started very soon after the elections were over and the results started polling in. The results were changed at the returning officer level. Polling stations, which are a smaller unit of the election process had a different result but when they were compiled at the returning officers, which legitimately were changed and we have enough proof through European Union-funded and even US supported NGOs who were observers. They claimed there were amendments, abnormalities, and there were changes that were conducted and we basically manipulated the results.

On top of this, the whole process of constitutional and parliamentary and of course, election institutions that are there were used by Imran Khan and other political parties, not just him alone. Some independent candidates as well, as exercised, including Supreme Court, which is allegedly said to be a party through its former chief justice Nawaz Sharif, did not provide any justice to those people who have been challenging the vote. This has been a serious issue with regards to those people who challenge Nawaz Sharif.

So, this is why Imran’s entire logical conclusion of coming here through a peaceful protest builds his case. There were several meetings across Pakistan and in the last meeting, in June, he said that I am going to Islamabad in August, but the government never seriously considered those complaints and never formed a judicial commission to actually investigate the election process.

Press TV: Mr. Ahmed, Mr. Peterson talked about the military and usually the military being involved in a lot of elections. I want to talk about this particular situation. Do you see the military being involved at all with this situation, encouraging these demonstrations or not?

Ahmed: Yes definitely I will answer the question, but let me clarify one thing. On October 7, 1999, Washington gave a statement that no extra-constitutional change in Pakistan will be accepted against Mr. Nawaz Sharif. On October 11, Mr. Pervez Musharraf takes over and the United States happily worked with Musharraf, ever since we overthrew him in Pakistan. So much about true democracy in Washington, both. Now, coming to the question.

The context of today’s protest has nothing to do with military at the outset. If Nawaz Sharif and his allies had agreed on a judicial institution, election commission so independent to provide an honest judicial probe in the election process, things would not have gotten this far. Nawaz Sharif himself has backed out.

He has never took the threats seriously and probably this gentleman in Washington does not know how Pakistani journalists and lawyers sacrificed for democracy during Pervez Musharraf’s time, whom they were supporting overwhelmingly and they were opposing restoration of justice.

Today, the same Nawaz Sharif is ready to give some concessions but not all concessions. In Pakistan, the electoral process is very different from the United States and we saw what happened when Al Gore was contesting and the way things happened in Florida. There are abnormalities in the election process and that needs to be addressed. Now, your worry about the military, that you always cooperate whenever there is a need to, military in Pakistan is engaged on three points: One, the United States has clearly said in Kerry Lugar bill that there will be no support if there is an overthrow of civilian government. Number two, Pakistani military is seriously engaged in a massive operation which United State has been asking Pakistan for a very long time to go into Waziristan and carry out the operation, an entire army is committed.

On the other side, the United States’ newly found friend Mr. Modi is in power in India and he is attacking Kashmir Line of Control and boundary. Pakistan’s relations on the border are not so good.

Pakistan’s economic condition is very bad. These three conditions put together do not allow any military to come overtly or covertly in a situation.

Press TV: What about that Mr. Ahmed? Do you agree that this is a small minority or not?

Ahmed: I would very humbly say that this gentleman there is interpreting everything as an overthrow. The situation that has been envisaged and agreed by most of the parties here and the stake hold is very simple. Nawaz Sharif and his brother, two brothers who are industrialists with good connections across outside Pakistan should step down, because they also killed 15 people in blatant violation of the constitution in Lahore and there is no repercussion for that on them. Nawaz Sharif should for himself choose who is going to be the prime minister in the intervening period.

Parliament remains in place. There is not going to be any change in parliament until the probe of election is complete and if 20 at least elected constituencies are found to be rigged, then on the bases of that, the mutually agreed formula is that there will be an election.

Now, Nawaz Sharif has agreed to five demands but he is not ready to step down for a month or two and he is not ready to hand it over to an independent commission. This is where the problem is. I don’t understand how Washington thinks it is just an overthrow. This is precisely one point.

Pakistan’s success lies in Nawaz Sharif trying to give a sacrifice at this moment and trying to step down on a personal level and let his party rule. Let the investigation take place and let him prove that it is legitimate. There are serious indications of corruption in election, rigging in election and abnormalities, which Washington is publically not seeing and we are not worried about Washington. This is Pakistan’s internal affairs. It should be sorted out in Pakistan and the number of the people on the streets is very large. You can see it with whatever lens you want to see and there will be more coming out.